Pitching press and influences. This is one of the most effective forms of marketing you can do for your business. But most people who pitch forget the subtleties to the art of pitching. Public Relations or PR is defined by Janet Murray as raising awareness of who you are, what you do, and what you stand for using it newspapers, magazines, online publications, radio and TV. That's all. It doesn't mean that you have to hire a fancy or rip off PR firm or spend years at your craft before getting started with your PR approach.

This is one of the most effective forms of marketing you can do for your business. People are core to this pitching business for obvious reasons that most people who pitch forget the subtleties. For one, they think that pitching somebody without having an idea of who they are speaking to, or even bothering to try and find out is going to fly. Then they think that they're speaking to a non human entity. Finally, they forget that Whilst on the whole people like to help people, they also like to help themselves. You can go much further when you offer something of value in return few ask without little rant over.

Let's get on to this pitching stuff. Let's say you're a jewelry designer, you've got some beautiful pendants with little poodles at the end. Your goal might be to get some stock in some boutique shops in your town. Or it might need to get 30% more traffic to your online store in time for Christmas. You have your goals. Now it's time to work out who you need to speak to.

For sure, the store in his in town will need to be pitched at some point. But what if you went to some press and influencers first. That way when it comes to pitch the stores you'll have some clout behind you, a few logos on your website, and some shots of maybe bloggers wearing your poodle neck necklaces on your Instagram account. The first step to any of this is research. This means finding out what publications have regular spots where they can feature creatives like you. For printed publications, you also need to figure out how far in advance they require pitching to meet their print deadlines, which is often up to six months in advance.

Have a look for influential bloggers, vloggers, or social media stars who feature products like your own, and whether they're people that your superfans are likely to be following. Then get familiar with them. You don't have to become their bestie or biggest fan, but you want to know them well enough to be able to write a nice personal introduction in your email or direct message pitch. I outline this pitching process further in depth in my email answer online course. But in short, you can follow these steps. Number one, pick your publications.

What sites blogs, podcasts, magazines, social media channels are your superfans likely paying attention to social media makes this a little bit easier because you In many cases, you'll be able to find related profiles, which will give you hints to more publications and influences to consider to find your fit. Take notes of the categories that your chosen publication splits its content into, for example, news, opinion, features, interviews, are there any that you could fit into? This might mean that you have very different pitches depending on the publication and what they currently offer. There's no point in submitting a press release designed for a local magazine to someone who just wants to sample one of your products. different publications and influences will have different ways of working. Three vfm it's really hard to write a considered email pitch.

If you aren't even a mild fan of the person you're contacting it does show it also means that you can be super specific in your pitch. For example, I noticed that you have a lot of comments on this certain post, something I'm very experienced in because give your reasons Could I send you a post on that subject from this angle adding this detail? Note down who is writing, especially in the case of bigger magazine websites or printed magazines, be prepared to give content to a specific writer who then takes it and does a feature for you. So who do you contact at a big publication? Well, you don't want to contact the CEO of creative preview, but the person who looks after the section or column you're interested in, after all, go small and go specific. In printed magazines, the front or back covers is the place to find the editor.

It's also worth trying to contact relevant contributors and find out if they have any advice about who to speak to. On the web, you'll usually find a contact page or a page for submissions, but in some cases, the email addresses will be hidden and you'll be stuck with a contact form. Personally, I much prefer email addresses to contact forms because you have the option to attach files Your email signature and keep track of opens with other extensions which I go into further in the email answer course. My secret weapon in these situations is hunter.io. It's a fantastic extension for your web browser that reveals any email addresses it can find on a website. I'll put a link in the resources.

When you have your contacts start to keep a little black book or a spreadsheet. You could also try to find them on Twitter or Instagram and follow them to get an even better idea of who they are and what they want. top tip create lists on Twitter to easily filter and keep track of as you follow. Step Four. For study the language to help with the wording of your pitch, get a flavor of the language used on the publication or by the influencer. A big tip from Janet Murray is to make a list of 10 to 20 headlines that the publication has run in the last six months.

Note the words that are used Have a formal or casual to they use a lot of lists or questions in headlines. This will help you in your wording of your own pitch. Five, make the first contact. This doesn't mean running ahead and pitching straight away. This means getting on the radar of the editors, journalists and influences in advance. Whether it's helping them sending some kind words on social media, or noted thanks by email.

Try searching for hashtags like hashtag journey request or hashtag PR request on Twitter. Many reporters use these to send out calls for content to their audience. I've mentioned Janet Murray a few times now but she really is the queen of online PR. My claim to fame is pitching her to be on on the Janet Murray show back in 2016. At first I sent an email thanking her for her podcast episode that mentioned marketing as an introvert. I asked for a correct link to a resource that she might have.

And I also showed my fandom on Twitter recently. And commenting on her posts when I remembered at a later date I sent my pitch concise the therapist that got me on the her huge podcast in a mere three days from hitting send. Here's what I sent. Hi, Janet, I'll do my best PR friendly pitch that I can muster here. A little while ago, I emailed you about an episode on a PR for introverts, and he graciously sent me the updated link and accompanying blog post. Both have been a big help, particularly the reassuring.

If you hate calling journalists don't do it. Yes. Anyway, I had an idea for your show that would aim to help creatives, for example, small business owners who are pitching their creative work, and you lack the confidence to actually pitch journalists. I built my own confidence in doing this when I had a pet portraiture business, and we'd love to share what I learned with your audience. And then I go on to list my suggested topics. And I wrap up by saying, if any of that sounds useful, let me know.

I'd love to know your thoughts and crucially, no worries. It's not Quite right for you, I'll be listening. So I ended with a kind of a no pressure sign off, because no one wants to feel intimidated by the person who's pitching them. So how to write a pro press release. a press release is kind of like a CV or resume to help the journalists decide what you're about and what they can use in their potential story. This is the best way to make it easy for anyone to understand your idea and feature you know that even if you don't get a response from your chosen journalist, there's a good chance they'll keep your press release on file.

So when an opportunity arises, they know that they can get in touch with you. It's well worth making a habit of writing your press release regularly. For example, every quarter you can write an update on your services or products, anything new that you're currently working on or have coming up. So what do you write? Well, for one, it's worth keeping it brief, a limit of around three to 4000 words. The structure is the important part.

He wants to make it super easy for anyone who is short on time to skip to the bits that they care about his rough structure. One headline, what would you read if you saw it in a magazine or blog to have a look at some of the headlines in the publications websites you'd like to be featured in summary, this is the brief TLDR. If somebody wants to read this alone, it should be enough to keep them reading. Think about who you want to be reading this as in your superfan. And what will make them gagging to read more body copy. This includes the classic five W's who, what, where, why and when.

These are the facts that journalists will be looking out for and keeping to the structure or just remembering to cover all these bases is going to set you apart from the majority of pitches. Also, keep in mind basic structure. Keep paragraphs short break text up with any relevant numbered or bulleted lists lists full quotes is also worth adding in to make it really easy for the journalists to copy and paste and save themselves time. The quote can come from you, any sources you cite, or any testimonials you have that are relevant to your story. five notes to the editor. This is just the key information like web addresses, contact details and so on.

It isn't really part of the story. It's more like an index to ensure that the journalist doesn't waste time at trying to find the nitty gritty details. Some other tips include story idea, pitch or submission in your subject line for the email. This will save whoever reads it time and is much more likely to ensure that your email goes to the right place. Before your press release begins. Start your email with a short paragraph about your idea and why you think it's a fit.

This is the time to get personal and ideally complimentary. tries to customize your pitch for each publication as much as possible. When you do this properly, anyone will be able to tell you spent time reading Searching them. And that speaks more than any amount of words. paste your press release in the body of the email. Ideally, you want to avoid sending attachments other than small photos.

It helps if you feel excited when you sit down to write this. It will show in your title if you don't believe your own hype, connects with your truenorth again, and remember your push goal. Maybe you think of your superfan and how you could be the thing that brings you some more of them. So what the heck is the story, it's one thing to have a product or service that you want to pitch. It's another way to frame it in a way that's actually going to be seen as useful, informative and entertaining to whoever reads it. Here are some ideas, the types of pieces that you can pitch that will link to your work.

Product Reviews. These aren't as effective as they were in the early early days of blogging. But that's it you can still form a relationship with a blogger or YouTuber. Instagram influencer and still have a lot of impact. The trick here is to be considerate to them and their audience, provide something of value and make it easy for them to share. personal stories, a personal story can be effective because it gives you the opportunity to craft your story and talk about your product or service with enthusiasm and a passion that no one else can that if you've ever read an article or listened to a podcast and thought, Yes, me too, I'm so glad they said that.

Then you know the feeling you want to elicit in your audience. Remember, it doesn't always have to be directly related to your business. You're showing people who you are, and people by people as much as anything, as well as building trust and likeability. My year a fun experiment in which I podcasted about my weekly experiences of pushing my comfort zone. were intended to inspire people to do the same, but it also has the benefit of getting me more comfortable with sharing my personality and the results are a deeper connection with my own Before you dismiss the idea of baring your soul to an audience of strangers. Keep in mind, this doesn't have to be your deepest, deepest, darkest secrets.

It just means putting your work in context. I asked us to do this all the time on the creative venture backed podcast, and no one has ever declined to share. In fact, in many cases, they probably surprise themselves with what they bring up. Those real stories about their journey, their challenges, and why they do what they do. That's what draws the audience in. It might help to have a friend or somebody you trust interview, in order to bring out your personal story.

You can record it and have listened back making notes or getting it transcribed. What you're left with is likely going to be something that people will connect with and be able to write about much more than a simple sales pitch. Three, teach something. This is an opportunity to give real value to this publications audience, as well as educate your potential buyers, getting them into a place where they feel ready to hire you. By your thing, I take this approach all the time for guest blogging or being a guest on a podcast. In my pitch, I list three to four topics I can specifically teach their audience about.

Because I've researched the publication or podcast, I know what that audience is likely to be interested in. If you can find any blog comments, podcasts, reviews, or social media comments on their accounts, and support your topics and suggest that audience will be interested in learning more, quote them. For example, if I go onto a blog, I won't see a guest post on I'll find a post that covers something similar to what I'd like to teach. And then I can check the comments to see what follow up questions readers had. I can then use those follow up questions to point to the demands that exists from that blogs existing audience, making it a no brainer for my pitch to be accepted. Then when it comes to writing my guest post, I can put all of my teaching into some of the best tips and make it easy for readers to learn more by checking out my site pool share research.

This is a great way to create informative content that people are unlikely to share. In fact, this is some of the content that people are most likely to retweet or share to their friends, because people like to appear smart and helpful. With that simple. The important part is presenting the information in a fun or visually pleasing way. A great example is then the illustrators illustration survey. When brainstorming ideas about what research you could conduct and what you could tell people about ask yourself would I share this if I saw it in my newsfeed?

Why is the next step click to find out more about me or my offer? Does it entertain educate or promote some more tips for making your public relations parts of your natural creative workflow, our plan ahead, as I mentioned earlier, printed press we'll need a story well in advance to fit their calendar. But this is also going to help you get organized in general Plenty of pitches a good three to six months in advance of any seasonal events like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year, and any other event that might be relevant to your story. set up alerts. Setting up Google Alerts or mobile alerts means that you can get a daily or weekly alert on your anything that you want to search for on the web. For example, call for speakers UK is one that I've set up to get notified if there are any speaking gigs open for application.

It also means you'll be aware when a story is already in the news so that you can potentially jump on the bandwagon, the official term with that being newsjacking and send out your pitches that relate to that current story. Show off your trophies. What I mean by this is either setting up a page on your website, or just sharing on social media, any of your past successes in the press. If you check out my trophies page at Chris Finch Burt calm slash You'll be able to see some of the published articles, interviews and features that I'm most proud of. This isn't just to blow your own trumpet, though that doesn't hurt. It's to show journalists and influencers that you're legit.

It's showing them that if you're good enough to other publications, you're certainly good enough for them. Remember, also that many journalists and bloggers use social media to look for it is so the more content you share on your own social media accounts, the more likely you are to be found. and up to date, LinkedIn page with examples of your work, ideally with video and audio is also a good idea. Remember, getting one article published in a top magazine won't make you millions overnight. It's those who face the facts and accept that we're in it for the long run, who ends up being everywhere, with journalists knocking on their door, rather than the other way around. Don't worry, I don't think journalists will actually not going to do if I'm honest.

My favorite part of this public relations is isn't the thrill of getting published. The That is nice. It's the confidence boost that pitching itself provides the boost you get from hitting send on an email that you're proud of, that you put your best work into. And that regardless of whether you hear back, you know that you're courageous enough to try. action step, set aside some time to start filling in your little black book of publications, magazines, blogs, podcasts, maybe research 10 publications where your superfan might find you. You might create a Twitter list with a list of these publications.